Shooting power

The Canon Powershot S95 is one of the best compact cameras in the world and belongs to Canon’s S series and was followed by the S90.

Design and Build QualityThe Canon Powershot S100 has a simple in design with a boxy overall appearance. It comes in two colours -black and silver. It is fairly simple in design and has a boxy overall appearance. Designwise, the S100 is almost similar in size to its predecessor. The front of the camera is dominated by the lens, the AF assist, the branding and the plastic line, which acts as a hand grip. It features a ring at the front, which can be used to zoom or act as an adjustment ring for aperture value, exposure value, etc. The rear of the camera features the large 3-inch display where the controls for the camera are located including a designated video recording button that can be accessed anytime from any mode. The controls at the back can be used for accessing different options from the various modes. This camera is GPS capable, unlike the S95. It has an AV out digital USB port and an HDMI port. The overall build quality of this camera is good, weighing in at 198g.

FeaturesThe S100 features a 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, along with Canon’s new DIGIC 5 image processor. It features a 5x optical zoom lens and with a 3.8x zoom. The camera has an improved macro feature as well, with one being able to get as close as 3 cm to an object. With manual controls, one can tweak the settings as much as they desire. The layout of the onscreen controls and the ability to access them is neatly designed. One can shoot videos in full HD 1080p at 24fps. It has a number of filters, including HDR, nostalgic, fish-eye effect, toy camera for artistic photographs.

PerformancePowershot S100 is not heavy and can be handled easily with a single hand. Shooting images with the right hand is possible and the hand grip at the front completely assists with this usability. One can easily toggle through the different settings, as well, without any difficulty. Having added a dedicated video recording button at the back, shooting 1080p videos on the fly was very easy and there was no need to go to the mode dial to switch to this option.

What we like* GPS capable, * Ideal for anyone* Dedicated video button

What we don’t* Bit heavy * Suited for professionals

VerdictThe Canon Powershot S100 is priced in India at a MOP of Rs 25,000. This camera is built really well and feels extremely sturdy. Feature-wise it has some improvements over its predecessor, like the larger sensor, 1080p video capabilities, increased optical zoom and a few others. It offers above average picture quality, as compared to other point and shoot compact cameras.